Composition Counts

Designing the Photo Image
by Nancy Anisfield
Consulting Editor, The Upland Almanac

Three fundamentals of picture design can make the composition of a photographic image more dynamic. It is difficult to manipulate these in burst mode, but for still shots, these artists’ basics can make the difference between a ho-hum image and one that grabs the viewer’s eye. Even clichéd trophy shots – hunter kneeling behind the big buck or angler thrusting the big fish towards the camera – can be refreshed with an attentive visual approach.

Use sightlines. Try to arrange the image so lines draw the eye toward the subject. Tree branches, guns, rods, ledges – anything that moves the eye along an edge can work like an arrow toward the subject. Avoid lines that pull the eye out of the picture.

Choose odd over even. Half and half is dull. Think of the picture in thirds for a better effect, such as two-thirds sky vs. one-third land or the other way around. This also refers to light areas vs. dark, busy areas vs. open, etc. Keep in mind that odd numbers are more interesting than even. Try to compose the photo with an odd number of animals, hunters, boats, objects, and try to keep their sizes varied by having some in the foreground and some farther back.

Repeat colors and shapes. Find a way to repeat a strong color, such as a blaze orange vest, elsewhere in the picture. Similarly, a noticeable shape, like the fork of an antler, repeated elsewhere as in a tree branch or fence post, sets up a rhythm that will unite the visual elements of the photo.

In this photo, the swirl of the tail feathers into the body and the downward angle of the dog’s tail pulls the viewer’s eye toward the dog’s head and mouth. Almost two thirds of the photo is the background vegetation, fairly uniform in texture and color, contrasting the bolder, darker dog and bird. The orange of the vest is repeated in the feathers at the front of the picture plane, and the curve of the vest’s neck band repeats the curve of the bird’s tail.